'From blood donation to transfusion, the entire chain is full of gaps'
All Indians MatterJune 04, 202400:38:45

'From blood donation to transfusion, the entire chain is full of gaps'

An estimated 12,000 Indians die every day due to blood shortage. What’s more, access to safe blood is not a given in the country. As we observe Blood Donor Day on June 14, India has a great gap to bridge when it comes to blood safety and supply. Anubha Taneja Mukherjee, Member Secretary of the Thalassemia Patient Advocacy Group and a respected voice on blood safety, speaks to All Indians Matter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 An estimated 12,000 Indians die every day due to blood shortage. What’s more, access to safe blood is not a given in the country. As we observe Blood Donor Day on June 14, India has a great gap to bridge when it comes to blood safety and supply. Anubha Taneja Mukherjee, Member Secretary of the Thalassemia Patient Advocacy Group and a respected voice on blood safety, speaks to All Indians Matter.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to all Indians Matter, I am Ashraf Engineer.

[00:00:03] It is estimated that every two seconds, someone somewhere requires a blood transfusion.

[00:00:08] These included leukemia and hallucinous patients, pregnant women, accident victims and

[00:00:12] those undergoing surgeries.

[00:00:13] These and so many others depend on blood transfusion.

[00:00:16] It's quite literally a matter of life and death.

[00:00:19] What's more according to a World Health Organization report in low-income countries up to 54%

[00:00:24] of blood transfusions are given to children under five years of age.

[00:00:28] Now in four maternal deaths in India is due to blood loss.

[00:00:30] However, even today, many who require transfusions do not have access to safe blood.

[00:00:36] In the also faces a clear gap between demand and supply of blood according to 2021 statistics,

[00:00:41] the demand supply ratio is 1.46 billion units to 1.25 billion units.

[00:00:45] The shortage has dire consequences leading to more than 12,000 deaths every day.

[00:00:51] With blood donor day coming up in June 14, there's a lot to think about.

[00:01:02] We are on the show Anuba Tanajya Mukherjee, member secretary, Thaleseen Mia patient at

[00:01:05] Bakosy Group, a lawyer by training at Thaleseen Mia herself Anuba has been working for the

[00:01:10] cause of Thaleseen Mia for years.

[00:01:11] She is a respected voice and blood safety and represents the Thaleseen Mia patient at Bakosy

[00:01:15] Group as a special invite to the National Black Transfusion Council under the Ministry of Health

[00:01:20] and Family well-famous.

[00:01:21] Anuba is also a member of the Thaleseen Mia patients at Bakosy Group of the Thaleseen Mia International

[00:01:26] Federation at Quartered in Cyprus.

[00:01:27] Anuba, welcome.

[00:01:29] Hi, Ashraf.

[00:01:30] Anuba, we have had lots of conversations about lack of beds and ventilators that impacted

[00:01:35] health care delivery severely in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[00:01:39] However, ongoing shortages andemic problems like the lack of safety of blood are not discussed

[00:01:44] widely.

[00:01:45] Maybe because you see them every day, why safe blood is so critical to health care?

[00:01:50] Thanks for that question Ashraf.

[00:01:52] I think it's a very important question.

[00:01:55] And I think it is strange that we even asked the question why is this important because

[00:02:04] it's like asking why is safe water important?

[00:02:08] Why is safe air important?

[00:02:10] You know, there's so much to talk around air quality air pollution and one wonders as to why

[00:02:16] there isn't so much to talk about safe blood.

[00:02:18] It is important because unsafe blood leads to uncontrollable diseases like HIV.

[00:02:26] It leads to mortality by transfusion transmitted infections like it's CV HIV.

[00:02:33] Look at it this way that a patient or phalosy Mia is going for transfusion.

[00:02:40] Thinking that he or she will come back all charged up and will come back with a

[00:02:46] list of life.

[00:02:48] But a couple of days later he or she discovers that he has actually contracted

[00:02:53] something as dangerous as HIV or HIV.

[00:02:58] Worse is this also think of a situation where somebody who's absolutely

[00:03:04] all right in terms of health met with an accident and has to undergo a surgery and receive blood

[00:03:12] transfusion. And while he recovers from the accident per se, he discovers that she has

[00:03:19] contracted hepatitis C or HIV and these diseases, these infections are really dangerous

[00:03:31] and life threatening in the sense that they're very painful in terms of their cure and some

[00:03:37] of them are not even cureable. That according to me is why talking about safe blood is very important.

[00:03:46] Aloha it's also not just about the quality of blood but also inadequate supply of blood

[00:03:51] isn't it? A single blood donation can save up to three lives and donations are not used

[00:03:55] only for transfusions, but also to create blood derivatives for treating various medical conditions.

[00:04:01] Yes that's right, Ashraf and it is very surprising that in a country of 1.3 billion.

[00:04:12] We definitely have loads to be proud of but I think population is something that really gives us an

[00:04:21] edge what we call demographic dividend today but it's very strange that in a country of

[00:04:28] from 1.31 40 crore people we have poverty of blood. It is a reality though it is primarily because

[00:04:38] of lack of awareness but coming back to your question yes a single blood donation can actually

[00:04:45] give you not only one bag of life but also many bags of life if you like because there are

[00:04:53] components like red blood cells, leukocytes, plasma and these components can be used for various

[00:05:01] patients. So while plasma can probably be used for somebody suffering from dengue, RBCs can be

[00:05:10] used for patients of phalicemia. So yes one bag of blood can actually give you around three

[00:05:17] components at one go. Also I think there is a lot of lack of awareness there is a lot of misconception

[00:05:24] about blood donation how does this exacerbate the problem? So that is essentially because people

[00:05:32] really haven't been told enough about voluntary blood donation, people haven't been told about

[00:05:41] how much need is there when it comes to blood donation. There are all sorts of myths like

[00:05:48] I clearly remember when I was in law school and there was a student who wanted to donate for me

[00:05:56] her mother actually told her that this might have an impact on her fertility and she told her

[00:06:02] that she could probably choose to donate blood after marriage but not before that. So I was very

[00:06:08] surprised because these were very educated people and I'm sad to share with you that after COVID

[00:06:16] this tendency has only increased, because people don't know enough about blood donation. They don't

[00:06:24] know how good it is and how much it is essential for some people and also they think that they

[00:06:33] might lose their fertility, they might get some kind of infection that is the reason why they

[00:06:40] you know they are not sure whether they want to donate or not. A critical sense of how

[00:06:44] prevalent transfusion transmitted infections such as hepatitis V and C and H I V R? So while

[00:06:51] there is a plethora of data available about prevalence of hepatitis C, H I V etc but

[00:07:00] you know there was a research which was done and you know there are many, many reports and many

[00:07:06] studies but the one that I'm referring to said that more than 50% out of a sample of 196 blood

[00:07:16] transfusion dependant patients that were in that study more than 50% were positive for anti-HCV

[00:07:24] while for HIV the percentage was much lower and I'm sure there are many studies like that this is

[00:07:32] this is essentially because a patient of thalisemia is going for blood transfusion almost every 15

[00:07:39] days. So you can imagine the kind of you know the kind of danger and the kind of threat to life

[00:07:48] and that is why you know the proneness or the skip ability to you know these infections is

[00:07:56] much higher and the prevalence of it's V HIV in such patients is much higher than in normal

[00:08:02] people. There seem to be a lot of gaps in the blood safety process where are the problems

[00:08:09] in the collection and screening process and what can we do to plug that gap?

[00:08:14] So these gaps are sure of our at many places across the value chain if I can use that very

[00:08:23] corporate world in this you know subject as well. So you know blood transfusion services

[00:08:31] are a gamut of activities that are done starting from blood collection to blood administration.

[00:08:39] So you know from point zero to point ten our regulatory framework is full of gaps. So for

[00:08:48] instance if I'm collecting blood then I'm supposed to look at donor counseling. I'm supposed

[00:08:56] to counsel the patient you know properly it's called hemovidulence. I need to be vigilant about

[00:09:02] the patient's history that is not done and that is more of a matter of implementation rather than

[00:09:10] gap in the regulatory framework. So that is one area you know that is one gap that can be plugged

[00:09:16] properly by talking to the patient to the donor by counseling the donor asking the donor the right

[00:09:23] questions but an India you know when people go for donation I have not seen such thorough counseling

[00:09:30] anyway after one has donated blood then comes the screening which is an absolutely important part

[00:09:39] of the whole you know process. Now here is according to me the biggest gap because in India

[00:09:48] and hold your breath because there is no single screening with dology that is mandated. So for

[00:09:57] instance there are 3,000 banks blood banks in India these 3,000 blood banks are absolutely

[00:10:06] free to use the screening methodology that they want to you heard me right. So while you know

[00:10:13] there is a card test which they call rapid test to the best of my knowledge which is a which is

[00:10:19] of you know 100 to be test to nucleic acid amplification testing which is the goal standard

[00:10:27] in blood seeks screening across the world. The blood bank is free to choose any test that they want

[00:10:32] to do and you can you know it can be anybody's guess as to which one let's say a blood bank

[00:10:41] in the inner most area of rural you know area the blood bank will choose. So that according to

[00:10:49] me is a huge gap and then comes the administration point now the administration point is where

[00:10:57] the doctor is actually giving blood and the and the blood bank is actually doing profile matching

[00:11:05] lucocide depletion filtering so that is also something that's not mandatory. So for instance

[00:11:12] patients of Salisemia there is on very well to lucocide depleted blood and because they take

[00:11:19] blood so frequently it is extremely helpful to do profile matching for them which is not done in

[00:11:27] India. So I have talked about how from donation to transfusion the whole chain is so full of gaps.

[00:11:38] Now how can it be a dress I think that was the second part of your question. I think it can be

[00:11:45] addressed by coming up with a comprehensive blood law for the country. Today we have a national

[00:11:54] blood transfusion council which is making guidelines for blood transfusion services in India. But

[00:12:02] guess what this is a council which doesn't have teeth in the sense that it is issuing guidelines

[00:12:10] which are just that guidelines they are not directions they are not orders of mandates. MPTC is not

[00:12:18] a regulator the regulator is you know under the drugs and cosmetics act. So it's a very fragmented

[00:12:26] regulatory framework and according to me the government needs to come up with a consolidated framework

[00:12:33] for blood transfusion services it can be called the blood law and it should have mandate for blood

[00:12:40] screening if not anything else. Absolutely I couldn't agree more and but before we proceed

[00:12:45] I should just tell listeners that when Anuba first to the NBTC she is referring to the National

[00:12:50] Blood transfusion council. Anuba I'm glad you raised the issue of regulation and you know

[00:12:56] your spot on that there is no real blood law as such I think the laws that come into question are

[00:13:02] the drugs and cosmetic rules of 1945 pursuant to the drugs and cosmetics act of 1940 which is that

[00:13:08] all blood samples must be tested for serious infectious diseases we are talking about HIV1 and to

[00:13:13] hepatitis B and C malaria parasites syphilis. Is this being done rigorously and I'm asking

[00:13:20] and I am aware that you've touched upon part the question earlier but I'm asking this again because

[00:13:25] it might be such at least one paper referred to Indian blood banks as cotton coat dangerous ones.

[00:13:33] So Ashraf for me the question is not whether they are doing this rigorously I mean what would

[00:13:42] you call rigorously is my problem is my question because if the law doesn't even define

[00:13:50] what is rigorous is a car test rigorous enough because then the blood bank will come and say that look

[00:13:58] you said that I have to test every blood bag for HIV it's CV, malaria,

[00:14:06] blood-clap parasites so on and so forth and I'm doing that so I'm compliant I'm compliant with the

[00:14:13] law and this is rigorous testing for me because you haven't even defined what the blood bank

[00:14:20] should use that you would call rigorously. So it is very difficult unless there is a uniform

[00:14:27] mandate across the country I will give you an example to explain this now because there is no

[00:14:34] standardized blood screening methodology that has been mandated by the countries,

[00:14:41] policy makers somebody sitting in Delhi in a hospital in Delhi is getting an act tested blood

[00:14:52] which is lucosite depleted profile matched voluntarily donated and somebody sitting in dark

[00:15:01] is getting a blood bag which has been given by a replacement donor there has been

[00:15:08] no adequate hemovidulence and there has been no confidence separation the person is getting

[00:15:14] whole blood and probably a laser testing or car testing has been done on that blood back

[00:15:23] and these both are hallucinous patients both sitting in the same country, both suffering from

[00:15:29] the same problem so then what would you call rigorous you know because what to one is rigorous

[00:15:37] to the other person it's you know rudimentary. So I think we need to bridge this yeah.

[00:15:45] So I mean while you've already talked about the need for a blood law comprehensive blood

[00:15:49] law that applies to the entire country could you talk a little bit more about that I was actually

[00:15:53] going to ask you about the regulations around blood screening in India but you've already talked

[00:15:57] about that could you talk a little bit more about this blood law or what could its components be

[00:16:02] what would it look like. So let me go back into history of it and being a lawyer I love to talk

[00:16:12] about judgments and statutes so I think you've given me that opportunity with this question.

[00:16:19] While in my earlier answer I touched upon it but let me tell you that you know there was a

[00:16:27] common cause judgment in 1980s, 90s I'll have to look up the date but it's an old judgment

[00:16:36] where it was the direction of the Supreme Court to set up national blood transfusion council

[00:16:43] in BTC and along with that the Supreme Court had given many other directions amongst which was

[00:16:52] that the policy makers should consolidate the regulatory framework of the country that has not

[00:17:01] been deleted. So what I'm talking about is not something that Anugata Naja out of the blue sky

[00:17:08] is suggesting this is something that was directed by the court, the epic court of the country

[00:17:16] many many decades ago. Now when I talk about consolidated blood law what I mean

[00:17:24] is that first of all you have one regulator for regulating blood transfusion services in India.

[00:17:33] You cannot have one macodowing something then one NBTC laying the guidelines then now there

[00:17:41] is DGHs in the picture directory general of health services, one hears that the whole blood transfusion

[00:17:49] dispensation and policy making is now under DGHs suddenly then there is national health

[00:17:56] mission which is taking care of calisimics and then you have your you know drug controller

[00:18:03] of India who's actually the regulator under the drugs and cosmetics act. You got confused right

[00:18:11] because it is confusing because it is so fragmented anybody I mean we are getting them

[00:18:17] so imagine somebody sitting in you know let's say CDSCO which is the authority they are only

[00:18:27] you know they are only qualified to license the blood banks and they treat blood as a drug

[00:18:37] under the drugs act blood is not supposed to be treated as drug. So the role of these people

[00:18:44] are limited is limited to giving license to the blood banks that's it whether the

[00:18:50] infrastructure is okay or not whether they are following all the guidelines or not then NBTC is

[00:18:56] rolling out certain guidelines then NACO is rolling out something so what I'm suggesting here and

[00:19:01] what we at calisimia patients at gochasee groups suggest is that all these threads should come

[00:19:09] together to form a blood law the blood law should have mandates standardized system of

[00:19:19] screening hemobudulence whatever it is related to the blood transfusions services in India

[00:19:24] it should be all uniform and it should be under one regulator it should be under one law

[00:19:32] and it should be administered by one authority because if you can have one nation one GST

[00:19:38] one nation one grade I really don't understand why you can't have one nation one blood.

[00:19:45] Absolutely and before I continue to the next question I should inform listeners that NACO is

[00:19:50] the National AIDS Control Organization while the CDSCO is the central drug standard control

[00:19:55] organization. However as I was researching this episode I came across something pretty interesting

[00:20:00] more form of testing called the nuclear cacid amplification testing and that seems to be

[00:20:05] quite interesting a lot of people are talking about it what can you tell us about it?

[00:20:10] So I can only tell you what a patient and a lawyer should tell you. I would not

[00:20:16] assume the authority to know the medical part of it but I can tell you bases my research

[00:20:25] and whatever I have read of whatever judgments I have seen that it is understood to be the goal standard

[00:20:32] for blood screening across the world to the best of my knowledge it has been adopted as

[00:20:40] mandates of blood screening by many countries like the US or Australia and in India also wherever

[00:20:49] I have gone I have spoken to DGHS I have spoken to Ministry of Health Officials. I have not heard

[00:20:59] anyone say this is not the best. The only thing I have heard people say is letters roll it out in a

[00:21:08] phased manner it is going to take you know it is expensive now now in India you know I think it's

[00:21:16] very easy to just pin things onto cost if you do healthcare economics study and if you look at

[00:21:26] look at the you know other side of the coin how many people are we losing to transfusion

[00:21:32] transmitted infections what is the kind of money we are spending on the cure care and management

[00:21:40] of hepatitis C of patients who have got infected with hepatitis C if you compare both and sure it

[00:21:47] will be worth it but has anybody done that and not sure so coming back to the question

[00:21:54] Nat is absolutely the goal standard for blood screening and aims daily has adopted Nat

[00:22:02] I know for a fact that Apollo Delhi and many hospitals of Apollo and many good blood banks

[00:22:09] they are adopting Nat as a best practice. I am given to understand what Nat does is that it increases

[00:22:17] the window time so basically when somebody gets infected there is a window time there's a window

[00:22:25] period which means that the virus would take that much time to actually get detected by any

[00:22:33] kit or any test. Now if in a certain case that window period let's say is for 15 days

[00:22:41] if I get infected with it's CV today and I go and donate blood when they test it with let's say

[00:22:49] Eliza or any other maybe a rudimentary test. I will come as it's CV negative I will come as

[00:22:57] hepatitis negative and that blood will be administered to somebody but maybe a couple of days later

[00:23:04] that virus will show itself it will manifest in the screening but in case of Nat I understand

[00:23:14] that the window period is very less so if I get infected today the chances of you know that

[00:23:23] the virus getting caught or getting spotted in a test maybe next day or in very less time

[00:23:31] is very high. So what it does is that it filters it filters and and it can be Nat can be used as

[00:23:38] a layer above Eliza and it increases the chances of virus detection I have even read that

[00:23:47] you know it's 99.99% foolproof so that's what Nat is. Is it widely available in India?

[00:23:55] See there's no problem of availability the only problem is that of intent the only

[00:24:00] problem is that of awareness like I just said that I know for a fact that all my fellow patients

[00:24:08] you know I go to a government hospital and they go to if somebody goes to a pollot they are getting

[00:24:15] Nat I'm not getting Nat but some government hospitals are also using Nat so for instance RML has

[00:24:21] Nat aims has Nat so of course I would like to believe that if it is available in so many hospitals

[00:24:29] all the government and also available in private hospitals it has to be quite widely available.

[00:24:37] So availability is not an issue the issue is only that of intent and understanding and getting

[00:24:43] convinced that this is something that the patients require instead of thinking that okay when

[00:24:49] when they get infected then probably will cure hepatitis let's not spend money on Nat I mean

[00:24:56] that's the thinking I'm not sure whether that's the thinking.

[00:24:58] Oh well there's been a suggestion that in a decentralized and fragmented

[00:25:02] geography like India centralization of blood banks for Nat testing should be the norm do you agree

[00:25:08] and yes how would such a system work? See again I would not like to assume authority here

[00:25:17] and say that I agree or I disagree because then I'll have to give medical reasons which

[00:25:24] I'm not completely in control of but what I can tell you is that DGX like I said DGX now is in charge

[00:25:34] it is actually the policy making body for blood transfusions services in India now.

[00:25:38] I know for a fact that DGX really supports the centralized system of blood banking it is again a

[00:25:49] standard across the world that the system of blood banking should be centralized because it is

[00:25:55] also I think common sense also tells me that it is optimum resource utilization because if you

[00:26:03] have Nat for instance in aims let's look at the example of Dali. If we have Nat and aims Dali

[00:26:10] and that hospital supplies to LHMC or MLDDU all the hospitals of Dali.

[00:26:18] I think it makes a lot of sense because you don't have to add infrastructure then you already

[00:26:27] have that setup in Man Hospital and you can supply to others but I'm not sure given the

[00:26:34] kind of country we are. I don't know how they will manage the whole transportation

[00:26:40] of it because in other countries they even fly blood from one city to the other and I don't know

[00:26:47] with the kind of temperatures required how that will really happen how that will really work out

[00:26:54] on the ground but I definitely know because being a special invited to NBTC I have heard DGX talk

[00:27:02] about centralized blood banking and it is definitely the way to go.

[00:27:09] So on about tell us about the Thalesimia patient at the advocacy group what has his journey been like

[00:27:13] and what kind of impact has it had? So Thalesimia patients at advocacy group TPAG for short

[00:27:22] it was setup in 2017 by the then deputy chief minister of Dali and it was set up by 7 adult

[00:27:33] Thalesimia patients including myself this is not our day job but we thought that let's get

[00:27:41] together and work for the overall interest of Thalesimia and prevent Thalesimia in India so this

[00:27:50] is the mission of TPAG. When I say overall interests they chose this expression very deliberately

[00:28:00] because for a long time now there has been a lot of emphasis on the medical advancements that

[00:28:07] Thalesimia should live a normal life and medically you know they should be taken care of but

[00:28:14] being Thalesimia ourselves we thought that we should also look at the other aspects like social

[00:28:21] economic aspect like legal aspect right to live right to say blood we should look at psychological

[00:28:29] aspect because Thalesimia is not only about blood transfusion every 15 days it comes with a lot

[00:28:37] of complications because you have iron getting overloaded on your body so you need regular

[00:28:44] iron curating agents and drugs then you need the blood to be safe you you have you are prone

[00:28:51] to cardiac problems hepatic problems. So we thought what is the impact you know psychological

[00:28:57] impact of such a life such a complicated life. So we said let's look at the psychological aspect

[00:29:06] also then the thought let's also look at the legal aspects because Thalesimia is a disability

[00:29:12] under the rights of persons with disabilities at 2016 so let's ensure that the benefits which are

[00:29:22] stipulated in the law they are given to us so so this was our thinking that we should work on

[00:29:29] the non-medical aspects of Thalesimia and we should do ad walkacy. So if you see TPAG we are not so much

[00:29:38] into blood donation camps per se or on the ground activities we work very closely with the

[00:29:44] policy makers and our tool is essentially ad walkacy we try to you know bring new policies work

[00:29:54] with the government to formulate new policies favorable policies for the prevention management and

[00:29:59] treatment of Thalesimia and today we are around 35 of us across India and the journey has been

[00:30:09] absolutely spectacular. Of course we are a little slow as an organization because we are all employed

[00:30:16] we are doctors lawyers engineers also in addition to being Thalesimics but I think TPAG has played a

[00:30:26] great role especially during COVID because during COVID there were a lot of problems that our

[00:30:34] community was facing we were not getting blood to start with we were not getting pads so so we

[00:30:40] worked with the government closely to ensure that our fellow patients got whatever they needed we

[00:30:48] work we worked very closely with the government on on blood safety so we have established a

[00:30:56] Nat lab in red cross Delhi red cross HQ Delhi so that's one of our best campaigns so far

[00:31:05] we are as I speak you know we are associated with the Confederation of Indian industry

[00:31:12] for a campaign called Save Blood Campaign and ahead of this world Halesimia day on 8th

[00:31:20] may we are actually organizing a lot of blood donation campaigns we do humongous media advocacy

[00:31:27] because we know we can't do so much on the ground so we you know getting touched with a lot of

[00:31:33] doctors other influencers and we invite them, follow me in their hands and we invite them to

[00:31:40] you know talk about Thalesimia so this is our way of creating awareness about Thalesimia awareness about

[00:31:47] safe blood awareness about new therapies because Thalesimia treatment is also now becoming

[00:31:54] a reality and the lot of therapies like gene therapy and blood dependent reduction therapies

[00:32:01] that are in the market so we talk a lot about these things and what comes next for it?

[00:32:07] Bloodlog absolutely because we have been talking it's it's been it's been

[00:32:14] long time since we've been talking about bloodlogs to the government and now we are planning to come

[00:32:20] up with a draft and present that draft to the government we are in touch with Hesocham and CIF for

[00:32:28] this and in the lawyer myself I myself also working on this then there are a couple of

[00:32:35] litigations that we are kind of following those litigations are by transgenders because transgenders

[00:32:42] are not allowed to donate blood wall entirely and they're asking for that like a for that right

[00:32:48] in the Supreme Court of the country so we are kind of following how that litigation goes and

[00:32:53] and one of us has even filed an application in that petition to say that you can allow this

[00:33:01] only if you have net because you can't throw the baby with the bathwater you can't allow this

[00:33:07] and not have net so those are also some of the things that we are doing but bloodloat is definitely

[00:33:13] the next also getting disability related benefits for employment because right now Salicy

[00:33:21] mix have reservation as far as education is concerned but we don't have any reservation

[00:33:27] as far as employment is concerned today Salicy mix are doing it's truly well you will meet

[00:33:33] people who have you know who have become doctors and and I a softesters but I think if they're

[00:33:40] given a little more support then we have many more people who can become doctors and lawyers and

[00:33:45] ISO officers and whatever they want to become so that is definitely there and one of the most

[00:33:53] important things that we are gunning for is access to new treatment therapies because one here's

[00:34:01] that across the world patients are getting access to gene therapy patients are getting access

[00:34:09] to new therapies which reduce you know the duration between two blood transfusions and we don't

[00:34:15] understand why India being the Salicy Mia capital of the world should not have access to such

[00:34:22] therapies so we definitely want to work towards that and above all we want to create awareness

[00:34:30] in general about Salimia urge people to go and get themselves green for Salimia because it is a

[00:34:39] very simple test we want to tell people it's not worth it I mean just avoiding one test and then

[00:34:46] having a child who has to go through this kind of life where they are dependent or transfusions

[00:34:54] and they are prone to so many other complications it's not worth it I mean if you take an

[00:35:00] informed decision that you still want that child then I mean go ahead but at least one should

[00:35:06] have that knowledge that I can get this test done and prevent Salimia forward so so I think prevention

[00:35:13] of Salimia is also top of the list so all about years a question I asked all my guests at the end

[00:35:21] of the show why do you do this work I do this work because I think this work has chosen me there

[00:35:29] have been times when I have told myself that I want to focus on law and law alone because

[00:35:38] that is absolutely first love for me I have been an operator and and there have been many times

[00:35:44] when I told myself that I don't want to do Salimia work and why am I doing Salimia work but

[00:35:50] I have realized that I haven't chosen Salimia Salimia has chosen me I also do this work because

[00:35:59] I think that you know when I was studying English literature I read the poem

[00:36:08] record the Deutschland and in that poem the poet is saying that God chooses you through

[00:36:16] flowers to sunshine to good things but God also chooses you through tempest he touches you through

[00:36:25] fury also and that settled in my mind and I told myself that God has chosen me through

[00:36:31] Salimia and if inspired of Salimia I have made it big with the support of my family it is

[00:36:40] actually my duty that I should give it back to the society and I should work for Salimia I

[00:36:47] should spread awareness that is that is why I work for Salimia because Salimia has chosen me

[00:36:53] and I think I don't really have an option. Anuba thanks so much for being on the show.

[00:36:58] Thank you Ashraf and it was a great opportunity to be on this popular show with you and before

[00:37:07] I take your leave I would just like to urge everybody who's listening to this podcast

[00:37:13] that please go and get yourselves tested for Salimia this eighth May which is world blood donor

[00:37:22] and also if you are eligible then please go and donate blood on 14 June which is National

[00:37:30] Wallantry Blood donation day and please be aware and wherever wherever you see the risk of spreading

[00:37:38] information and awareness about disorders like Salimia please do that thank you.

[00:37:45] Thank you all for listening please visit all Indians matter dot in that say double L

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